780 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Nov. 2, 1920. 



With £2 per ton for 25 tons per acre, the farmer now shows a reasonable 

 return for his outlay and labour, which we may present thus : — 



Dr. < I Cr. 



£ s. d £ s. d. 



Felling timber, clearing land, and First crop, 40 tons per acre 



planting cane 18 at £2 80 



Cultivating, cutting, &c., on first crop 37 First ratoon crojj, ;W tons 60 

 Cultivating, cutting &c., on first Second ratoon crop, 25 tons 50 (> 9 



ratoon crop ... ... ... 28 15 



Cultivating, cutting, &c., on second 



ratoon crop ... ... ... 25 12 6 



£109 7 6 £190 (> 



The above makes no charge for the interest on the capital value of the 

 land, or for the farmer's salary as manager, though, of course, it includes 

 any labour he may have supplied himself. 



(To be continued.) 



The Influence or the Tractor on the Use 



OF Horses. 



TiJE intiueuee that the introduction of tractors had upon the employment 

 of horses on 191 farms in the maize-belt of the United States was made the 

 sub.icct of investigation by the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 find the results have been collected and presented in Farmers' Bulletin 1093. 



Tlie results of the inquiry may he summarised thus: — 



On 141 farms (averaging 346^ acres), on which tractors had been used for 

 a year or over, the nuinber of horses disposed of averaged two and a half 

 per farm. 



The average number of acres tilled per horse increased from 26i to 38 i 

 after the purchase of the tractor. ~ ^ 



Nine farmers out of 191 had displaced horses entirely on ploughing, 

 disking, and harrowing. 



Only sixteen farmers allowed their horses to stand idle while the tractor 

 was in use. 



TIic iiiiinlx'r of lu)rses displaced by the tractors on the fanns was governed 

 )).v till- luiiiibcr it was necessary to retain for maize cultivation and other 

 wiirk current at the same time, which the tractor could not do. 



The horses remaining on the farms are doing about 75 per cent, of the 

 tractive work and tractors the remainder. 



The tractor was used for an average of twenty-nine days of ten hours 

 each on the home farm. 



A three-plough" tractor on these farms does the work of eight and a hall' 

 horses in ploughing, disking, harrowing, and harvesting. 



After the i)urehase of the tractor, tlie average size of the farms M'as 

 increased by 22 acres, or G^ per cent. 



The principal advantage of a tractor is its ability to do lieavy work in a 

 shorter time than it can be done with horses. 



